Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Collateral Measures - Scales, 2000-2010 (ICPSR 36867)

Citation

Mulvey, Edward P. Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Collateral Measures - Scales, 2000-2010. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017-12-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36867.v1

The Pathways to Desistance study was a multi-site study that followed 1,354 serious juvenile offenders from adolescence to young adulthood in two locales between the years 2000 and 2010. Enrolled into the study were adjudicated youths from the juvenile and adult court systems in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona (N=654) and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (N=700).

This study looks at interviews conducted with the collateral informants who participated in the study. The collateral informants were nominated by the main study participant and represented individuals who "knew the study participant well". At the interview baseline the collateral informant was usually a biological parent. During the three follow-up interviews the majority of collaterals were a friend. Collateral informants could also be a sibling, significant other, or relative. Collaterals were asked questions in regards to the main study participant's life, allowing for comparison between responses provided by two sources. A baseline interview was conducted with the collateral after the baseline interview took place with the main participant. Additional waves of follow-up with collaterals took place at 12, 24, and 36 months. A collateral report is not present for all of the main study participant interviews across waves (see response rate below).

The current Collateral Measures study primarily consists of the calculated scores from constructs asked about during the interview, but the individual scale items were withheld at that time. These additional datasets contain those individual items plus the calculated scores. These variables are typically consistent across the waves that the scale was asked about during the course of the entire project. Most of the files contain variables from all four waves of data collection. The table in the front of the User Guide will list which waves are present in each data file.

Mulvey, Edward P. Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Collateral Measures - Scales, 2000-2010. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017-12-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36867.v1

Users are reminded that these data are to be used solely for statistical analysis and reporting of aggregated information, and not for the investigation of specific individuals or organizations.

Access to some of the data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Collateral informants were individuals who knew the main study participant well. These individuals varied in their relationship to the main study participant. The largest groups of collaterals were parents, siblings, significant others, and friends/roommates.

Some data parts contain the word "[Restricted]" after the part title. A restricted data use application will need to be filled out to access these particular data files. The authors of these particular scales did not give the Principal Investigator permission to release the individual items publicly. The restricted part's codebook is public so that users might see what the variables are contained in that file.

Each data file contains 1,354 cases - one case for each respondent who completed an interview during the initial baseline phase.

The User Guide provides a brief explanation about each data file prepared by the Principal Investigator. At the beginning of the document is a table that lists additional details about each file prepared by ICPSR.

The aims of the larger Pathways to Desistance project were to identify initial patterns of how serious adolescent offenders stop antisocial activity, to describe the role of social context and developmental changes in promoting these positive changes, and to compare the effects of sanctions and interventions in promoting these changes. The larger goals were to improve decision-making by court and social service personnel and to clarify policy debates about alternatives for serious adolescent offenders. The study relied primarily on self-report information from study participants.

Main study participants were enrolled into the study between November 2000 through January 2003 following an adjudication in the juvenile or adult court systems in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona (N=654) and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (N=700).

For the main study participant, a baseline interview was conducted within 75 days of the youth's adjudication hearing. For youths in the adult system, the baseline interview was conducted within 90 days of either (a) the decertification hearing in Philadelphia, a hearing at which it is determined if the case will remain in adult court or if it will be sent back to juvenile court; or (b) the adult arraignment hearing in Phoenix, the point in the Arizona adult system at which charges have been formally presented.

Follow-up interviews were conducted with the main study participant every six months for the first three years of the study and annually thereafter through seven years. Collateral informants were interviewed at baseline and annually through the first three years.

Six potential cities/counties were investigated for potential selection before Phoenix and Philadelphia were finalized. These two areas were selected due to containing (a) high enough rates of serious crime committed by juveniles; (b) a diverse racial/ethnic mix of potential participants; (c) a sizable enough number of female offenders; (d) a contrast in the way the systems operate; (e) political support for the study and cooperation from the practitioners in the juvenile and criminal justice systems; and (f) the presence of experienced research collaborators to oversee the data collection.

Youth were selected for potential enrollment after a review of court files in each locale revealed that they had been adjudicated (found guilty) of a serious offense. Eligible crimes included all felony offenses with the exception of less serious property crimes, as well as misdemeanor weapons offenses and misdemeanor sexual assault.

Drug offenses constitute a large proportion of all offenses committed by youth. And males comprise the vast majority of youth who are charged with drug offenses. Therefore the study instituted a capped proportion of males with drug offenses to 15 percent of the sample at each site.

All females who met the age and adjudicated crime requirements, or any youth whose case was being considered for trial in the adult court system, were eligible for enrollment regardless of whether the charged crime was a drug offense.

Main study participants are youths 14-19 years of age from the juvenile and adult court systems in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona, and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania from November 2000 to April 2003. Collateral informants are individuals nominated by the main study participant.

The majority of the data files contain the same repeating variables across the four waves of data collection. Please consult the User Guide for more details and a further description of the contents of each file.

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:

Mulvey, Edward P. Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Collateral Measures - Scales, 2000-2010. ICPSR36867-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017-12-06. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36867.v1

2017-12-06 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: